Hearables and Voice with Dave Kemp and Andy Bellavia - Voicebot Podcast Ep 127

What are hearables? They are wireless earbuds and headphones that
provide always-available voice assistant access. Think AirPods,
Pixel Buds, Echo Buds, Galaxy buds. At home, you have an
always-listening smart speaker but on the go having that just in
your phone is a bit limiting. Connecting the voice assistant from
a smartphone to your ears creates a more efficient and private
interaction. 


 


Today we talk about the technology underlying hearables and why
we aren’t getting 12-hour, all-day battery life. We also discuss
applications, consumer adoption, and how the big players intend
to compete. 2020 is going to see a lot more hearables action
driven by new apps and new products such as AirPods Pro and
Amazon Echo Buds. 


 



Dave Kemp works for Oaktree products, the leading U.S.
distributor of hearing aids and an expert in the hearables
space ranging from prescription solutions to consumer products
such as AirPods. He is also a contributor to Voicebot.ai on
hearables topics and has his own regular podcast and blog
called Future Ear. 


 


Also, with us is Andy Bellavia. He has a long tenure in the
sound and hearing market with past work for consumer hearables
innovator Bragi, hearing aid tech company Nuheara and currently
as a BD lead for Knowles Corp. — a company that has components
in the new Amazon Echo Buds.